awkward nursing 101

went out to an awesome dinner last friday night. it was for one of my best friend's parents 30th anniversary and it was basically a bunch of people who have known me since the day i was born. which is neat, all the 'older people' passed around clover the whole night- and that's surreal because they held me when i was her age. i hope to hold jayme's granddaughter one day...anyway she was 7 weeks and when saylor was 7 weeks old i remember attending a wedding with him and we left because he started fussing. it was definitely overwhelming. this time around? i'm not fazed or overwhelmed. [it does help that clover is insanely easygoing though]. so i'm not overwhelmed but that's not to say things are never awkward. you gotta just go with the flow, laugh things off and be prepared to get creative and/or make do with what your situation is. and enjoy the awkwardness. that's my best advice i can offer as a parent. remain nonchalant when your child has a huge meltdown and you have to leave a store, laugh when they poop all over you and expect them to dump a box of crackers in the car. they will throw up on their car seat, break something in someone else's house, scream and cry through an entire 30 minute car ride, pee on you.. [these are just the baby years, what do we have coming when they are teenagers? i hope i can still laugh then...]
so we are having a great time, saylor's home sleeping and pooping on our new couch with my brother [another story for another day] but of course at some point clover needed to eat. so before our food came i decided to feed her. did not even occur to me until that moment that this was easier said than done. A- i'm wearing a dress that is nearly impossible to nurse her in. easiest way would be to lift my dress up.. couldn't really attempt either way while sitting at our table there... B- tiny bathroom. small sink, basically standing room only and then two stalls with doors to the floor so you don't even know if someone's in there. didn't really want to nurse on the toilet and have people repeatedly knocking or trying to come in. C-our car? no dice, it was far, far away in a parking garage. whatever, i'm cas, i'm not fazed. a family friend was walking around with her outside of the restaurant- there was a huge fountain and a bridge and such, very pretty. so i walk way out to him and get her and only then realized what i took with me. my cardigan, my phone, and my keys. what the heck my keys!? why michelle, why.and my tiny little cardigan, not her nice sized blanket that would cover me. no, a tiny little cardigan. i proceed to try to find a secluded area to nurse. there are people all around, i end up climbing over this flower bench thing and sitting on a wet picnic table. pretty sure the guy lounging behind me saw my boobs a few times... and the fun time i had trying to get access to them... i had a huge chunky/in the way necklace on, i was sweating and may have ripped my dress trying to-get access. all this while trying to remain semi covered with my tiny little cardigan. i also continued to text my friend updating her on the awkwardness that was occuring. it helps that i love awkward/embarrassing situations but it was good times. the whole night was so fun. we stayed out late and then yah, we came home to a smelly couch and spent an hour trying to fix that [success. and then clover slept a 9 hour stretch! from all that partying] just gotta roll with the flow and know that your kids will always throw you for a loop.
ps this may seem like having children or breastfeeding is stressful or too difficult. i give you my promise they are both SO entirely 1000% worth it. and then some.

love for lindy

one of my best friend's dog is dying and will have to be put to sleep. it is notable as i grew up with this dog and i love her and her family so much.i've known jayme since we were in our respective mother's wombs. they have had this dog for close to 16 years and i feel like it's the first dog i really loved.this is the only picture i have that i can post.it's jayme's sister kelly and lindy.lindy is cuter in real life than this picture.kelly is always cute.



prayers and love to the family and what an amazing fam they are.fiercely close, super hilarious... i shall have to do a whole other post on the doyle family.i love them so much!

colin has taken to eating a turkey/spinach/tomato sandwich,and after polishing that off [i just wanted to write 'polishing' so bad] he makes and eats a pb&j. often a triple decker. i find this very amusing.and yesterday he ate THREE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. and a turkey sandwich. going through bread like mad in the rigsby home.

saylor has learned to stick out his tongue and point at his nose when asked there they are... colin also has taught him 'smell your breath' and he blows out 'haaah'. it's only cute becaue he's a baby... and yesterday he- well first he ate a marker and we had to scrub brown off his face, hands and tongue [awesome] and then he figured out how to climb onto our coffee table.he has since fallen off it about 10 times but it's more fun than scary.

put saylor down for a nap...i'm so tired myself but should eat something.hm nap or eat nap or eat.....ok i'll just heat up my coffee i brought home from work....dum dee dum AAGH and i somehow throw the entire [grande] verona all over my kitchen. before i clean it up i quickly start a pot of coffee cuz darnit i'm gonna have some.then i clean up my mess and then take out the cream i just bought last night to discover i bought heavy whipping cream what the heck.i think i'm gonna try to make some whip cream out of it though because what else am i to do with it?

and random story number two
we pick up some things at kroger [not our favorite grocery but it's right there] and colin checks out as i run and grab some yogurt.i arrive as he's about to pay and i'm thinking sheesh that seems alot for what we bought.i can usually guess within 5 dollars how much everything will cost.. is this me or all women? we get in the car i snag the receipt-he forgot to use the kroger plus card.[though the chick didn't ask him for it either] there is no point in shopping there if you don't use that stupid card. pull over colin.i hop out, run in to the customer service and get $16.01 cash back. aah that's more like it.... then i lose the $16.no idea where it went.i apparently threw it out the window but it's cool, i still have the penny.